Malaysian government agency CyberSecurity Malaysia has launched a new service to help raise the quality and security assurance of ICT products.

The ICT Product Security Assessment (IPSA) service would help to better protect an organisation's reputation and reduce disruptions to business operations, said CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer, YBhg. Lt Col Prof Dato' Husin Jazri (Retired), speaking at the end of October.

"The IPSA service provides independent assessment and evaluation on ICT products' security characteristics," said Husin. "Once the product has been evaluated and certified, customer's confidence on the security assurance and quality of the ICT product will increase."

"Independent assessment and evaluation of ICT products' security characteristic will also meet the requirements for maintaining technical security features and enforcing functions such as access control, authentication, cryptography, auditing as well as error recovery," he said, adding that the service is targeted at organisations that require security assurance for ICT products as well as local ICT product developers.

Husin said the IPSA service provided various benefits to both customers and developers, as it provided evidence of product performance. "This would boost customer's confidence on the effectiveness of the security functions of the products. The engagement of third-party and independent evaluators helps developers improve their products and processes. It is also a marketing instrument for ICT product developers."

"At present, we are conducting a pilot project on a few ICT products," he said. "By December this year, ICT product developers can send their products to CyberSecurity Malaysia for security assessment and product evaluation."